Players you expected more of

durantbird · Post #1 » by **durantbird** » Sat Oct 21, 2023 1:21 pm

Gimme players who you thought at a certain point in their career they will get better / much better, and it eventually didn't happen or you don't see it happening anymore. I look for players who weren't affected heavily by injuries.

For example, I thought Karl Anthony Towns could be a very dominant, close to MVP level big, but that doesn't seem to be any close. I can see him still as a very good third option in a contender but not first and maybe not even second.

Colbinii · Post #2 » by **Colbinii** » Sat Oct 21, 2023 2:18 pm

Alexey Shved and Josh Okogie

Colbinii · Post #3 » by **Colbinii** » Sat Oct 21, 2023 2:20 pm

Alexey Shved and Josh Okogie

SNPA · Post #4 » by **SNPA** » Sat Oct 21, 2023 4:03 pm

Oh look…a Tyreke Evans thread.

SHAQ32 · Post #5 » by **SHAQ32** » Sat Oct 21, 2023 5:54 pm

White Chocolate Jason Williams

jdzimme3 · Post #6 » by **jdzimme3** » Sat Oct 21, 2023 7:47 pm

Ben Simmons, charlie villanueva, adam morrison

NYKnickerbocker · Post #7 » by **NYKnickerbocker** » Sat Oct 21, 2023 9:13 pm

Iman shumpert

Post #8 » by **penbeast0** » Sat Oct 21, 2023 9:23 pm

As the Wizards are one of (if not the) most disappointing franchises in the league since the merger, I'm putting together an all Wizards disappointment team.

Chris Webber, based on his talent; Juwan Howard, based on his first seasons; Steve Colter who I always thought should be a starting guard but never put it together, Darren Daye who always looked better than Kenny Green (the guy the Wizards picked ahead of Karl Malone when we were all at the arena yelling for them to pick the Mailman), Robert Pack who looked really exciting for us for the one year he got to start, and the all 10 cent head lineup featuring JaVale McGee, Andre Blache, and Nick Young.

Post #9 » by **tsherkin** » Sat Oct 21, 2023 11:50 pm

I was young and not too bright and thought Kwame Brown would be much more than he ever came near xD xD xD

falcolombardi · Post #10 » by **falcolombardi** » Sun Oct 22, 2023 12:17 am

I am still perplexed how little jeremy lamb and perry jones amounted to

SilentA · Post #11 » by **SilentA** » Sun Oct 22, 2023 7:05 am

Allen Iverson. I thought he was going to be one of the next superstars making deep playoff runs, crossing up Michael Jordan, the finals appearance, me copying his dribble moves as a kid... and then he just faded out over time from there. He just never quite got up there with Kobe, Wade and Nash as having superstar guard careers in my opinion, despite the one MVP year.

He wasn't a bust or anything like that, still had a very good career and was a cultural icon, but I definitely expected more given his start.

Ein Sof · Post #12 » by **Ein Sof** » Sun Oct 22, 2023 2:01 pm

LeBron James' teammates

MartinToVaught · Post #13 » by **MartinToVaught** » Sun Oct 22, 2023 2:48 pm

Stanley Roberts

Post #14 » by **penbeast0** » Sun Oct 22, 2023 3:36 pm

I guess weight issues aren't injury so we can add Walt Bellamy and John "Hot Plate" Williams to our disappointing Wizards list.

NW BBALL · Post #15 » by **NW BBALL** » Sun Oct 22, 2023 4:22 pm

Nicolas Batum. Good length, good defender, and good shooter with decent range. Had all the tools to be a much sought after 3&D player moving from one contender to another. Poor attitude and inconsistent prevented that.

McBubbles · Post #16 » by **McBubbles** » Mon Oct 23, 2023 8:02 am

SilentA wrote:Allen Iverson. I thought he was going to be one of the next superstars making deep playoff runs, crossing up Michael Jordan, the finals appearance, me copying his dribble moves as a kid... and then he just faded out over time from there. He just never quite got up there with Kobe, Wade and Nash as having superstar guard careers in my opinion, despite the one MVP year.

He wasn't a bust or anything like that, still had a very good career and was a cultural icon, but I definitely expected more given his start.

I'm not exaggerating when I say I think I've actually watched every single Allen Iverson highlight in existence, probably at least twice lol. Would just sit down for hours and watch everything available on YouTube. I think I made a playlist of all of his playoff games actually. Went for hours.

Ron Swanson · Post #17 » by **Ron Swanson** » Mon Oct 23, 2023 2:49 pm

For Bucks fans this is obviously the Brandon Jennings thread. Honorable mentions to both Andrew Bogut and Tim Thomas.

Owly · Post #18 » by **Owly** » Mon Oct 23, 2023 5:51 pm

penbeast0 wrote:I guess weight issues aren't injury so we can add Walt Bellamy and John "Hot Plate" Williams to our disappointing Wizards list.

"Hot Plate" ballooned whilst injured (apparently a family bereavement or similar, perhaps plural going on too, iirc). Now not every injured player turns from an "already getting some comments/cracks about excess weight [say] 235lbs combo-forward" to over 300lbs ...

.... you know what looking at Barry from after '91:

- It was father had a stroke and a close friend died.
- He was already playing at 260 in 89-90 and one might be inclined to connect the dots in terms of excess tonnage and increased injury risk (MCL torn; partial ACL tear). 235 really was his early career listed weight though.

- Williams never really lost the weight and if Larry Brown wasn't in love with his passing he would have struggled for an NBA job being so grossly overweight.

The across the board contributions were tantalizing and whilst the Magic comparisons were ... bullish ... a young, fluid (yet hefty), do-it-all (apart from shoot from distance), point-power-forward has some obvious appeal.

When even game highlights from before the injury year (and contemporary books) when he started overweight and ballooned feature comments on his weight though, I think the idea of can get more appealing than what was likely. But the tease of that idea was pretty nice.

eminence · Post #19 » by **eminence** » Mon Oct 23, 2023 6:43 pm

Gary Clark.

parsnips33 · Post #20 » by **parsnips33** » Mon Oct 23, 2023 6:59 pm

Jordan Bell, Derrick Williams, Josh Smith